Chapter 074(1/2)
Nintendo is willing to spend US$50 million to acquire KTT. If Alexey agrees, he can instantly become a multimillionaire with US$15 million.
But Alexey soon came to his senses.
With the acquisition of KTT for US$50 million, the entire copyright of Tetris was transferred to Nintendo, which is equivalent to Nintendo paying off the patent fees for the next ten years, maybe five years, in one lump sum.
Is Nintendo really so rich? Alexey doesn't believe it. Although he opposes Yang Yun's plan, he still trusts his partners more than Nintendo people.
"Mr. Arakawa, KTT has no plans to sell the entire franchise for the time being. Why don't you listen to my suggestion? I wonder if we, KTT, can pay 50 million US dollars to buy the rights to Super Mario?"
"Impossible!" Minoru Arakawa refused immediately, showing anger. "This is absolutely impossible!"
Alexey shrugged: "The same goes for acquiring KTT!"
The two sides reached a stalemate.
One is the number one boss in the industry, an elite entrepreneur from MIT, and the other is a rookie in the industry who seems reckless but is actually cautious. The two just stare at each other and never give in for their own interests.
Minoru Arakawa suddenly said: "Since it's impossible, let's talk about the price. We think the patent licensing fee for Tetris is too high, so we hope that the price of a single copy can be reduced to less than 1 US dollar, not 1.5 US dollars."
Alexey sneered: "Since Mr. Arakawa thinks Tetris is not worth so much money, why did he propose to acquire KTT in the first place? I don't agree with the $1 offer. Currency will always depreciate, but employee wages and rent and utility bills are not
As it goes up day by day, repricing can be done, at least starting from $5.”
Minoru Arakawa was angry: "Mr. Pajitrov, will it seem insincere if you do this?"
Alexey responded tit-for-tat: "Does a price of less than 1 dollar mean you are sincere?"
Once again reached a deadlock.
Alexey finally understood that when his side takes the initiative, negotiations will often become more interesting. For example, now, it can make an opponent who usually has to look up have nothing to say and become an equal. This kind of
It feels so great!
Seeing that the other party's momentum calmed down, Alexei said comfortably: "Everyone has a different opinion on the value of Tetris and Super Mario. None of us know the future trend. I think Tetris is a priceless treasure.
, what do you think about super ma
Li is not transferable. Since we can't reach an agreement, it's better to go back and discuss it. Just now you reminded me that the price of 1.5 US dollars is really inappropriate. Now I have changed my mind. Unless Nintendo exchanges Super Mario for me,
Otherwise, there is no need to discuss it!”
"Hmph!" Minoru Arakawa closed the notebook, stood up and left, not even intending to continue the conversation.
Alexei didn't care. Everyone knew Nintendo's strength. The most important thing in negotiations was to destroy the opponent's prestige. Otherwise, he would be the one to suffer. He would lose every move.
Back at KTT, Alexey reported everything.
Yang Yun thought for a while and said: "It doesn't matter, he is the son-in-law of Yamauchiura, not the stubborn old man himself, don't be afraid! Drag, let's keep dragging, until they can't stand it anymore, and they take the initiative to come to their door, we will win. Next time we will talk
Has the time been set yet?”
"Arakawa Minoru's secretary has informed us, the day after tomorrow."
"OK, let's do something else first. How about meeting Sega?"
…
…
Fujita Sai and Pete attach great importance to KTT's negotiations, which are related to their strategic arrangements for Sega. Whether Sega will have a good time in North America in the future depends on the outcome of this negotiation.
The two came to KTT company and met Yang Yun and Alexei who were chatting and laughing.
Because of its good confidentiality work, Nintendo never knew about Yang Yun's existence. Although Sega knew that Yang Yun was related to Tetris, it didn't know the specific sharing agreement. Of course, Sega would not take the initiative to tell Nintendo any information.
Sai Fujita asked: "Mr. Pajitrov, have your company and Nintendo reached an agreement?"
Alexey said calmly: "Negotiations cannot be concluded in a day or two."
Yang Yun added: "Fujita-kun, you should be very aware of the strength of Nintendo. Arakawa is a legendary entrepreneur and quite difficult to deal with. I think this is definitely a tug of war, so please be patient. If the negotiation fails,
Of course we will cooperate with Sega, but we hope Sega can help add some weight and help us."
Fujita Qi and Peter looked at each other, already unhappy in their hearts.
From Sega's point of view, the best outcome is that KTT and Nintendo have broken down their talks and parted ways on bad terms.
No one has taken over the Tetris patent, and KTT will never let it rot in its hands. Since Sega is the only game platform provider on the market, the licensing price may be reduced by another 30%, and Sega can get a big bargain.
Fujita Sai was very reluctant to ask Sega to add weights. He had never dealt with Longteng Company or KTT Company. To be precise, he knew nothing about Yang Yun and had no idea about Yang Yun's personality.
, what are the rules of conduct and doing things? In private, he even looks down on this Chinese man because of personal factors.
So he didn't express his position, but made a wink.
Peter understood this and became the bad guy, saying, "I'm sorry, we have never negotiated with Nintendo. I'm afraid we can't be of much help."
Alexei sighed in his heart, and as expected, Yang Yun was right again, Sega would definitely not provide help.
Yang Yun laughed and said: "I haven't said what I want to do, and you rejected it so quickly? This is not the right way to treat allies. Alexey just mentioned to me that EA intends to enter the video game console
Industry, and they promised to help us..."
a bolt from the blue!
Sai Fujita and Peter know very well what kind of ruthless character EA is!
In American culture, sports are a very important part. It can be said to be a national sport.
In the game industry, the best sports game company is none other than EA.
The basketball game "One-on-One" series, the "Ferrari F1" series, and "Madden NFL" released last year even climbed to the third place in the U.S. game sales list!
Ever since Sega's 16-bit console entered the U.S. market, EA has repeatedly reported that it intends to enter the video game market. Of course, Nintendo sneered at it. They did not regard EA as a competitor at all, but Sega could not ignore it. Once EA entered, I am afraid it would be the most affected.
It's them.
So as soon as Yang Yun said this, Fujita couldn't sit still. He quickly stood up and bowed his head to apologize: "Please don't misunderstand! Peter's expression was wrong. He just wanted to say that we may not be able to help with the skills on the negotiation table."
Busy and nothing else!"
Yang Yun didn't care and glanced at Alexei. Alexei was impressed. All this was in Yang Yun's imagination. Yang Yun believed that once EA was asked to accompany him, Sega would definitely give in. As for EA's true attitude
, who cares?
In fact, Yang Yun has never been exposed to EA at all!
Fool, keep fooling!
Alexei said: "Don't be nervous, Mr. Fujita, Yang is also joking. We want to know, has Nintendo encountered some troubles and difficulties recently? If the negotiations fail, how much impact will it have on their Christmas sales?"
Yang Yun added: "The Christmas holiday is the most important sales season of the year. If the negotiation fails, we will lose millions of dollars..."
Fujita Qi understood that if the negotiations between KTT and Nintendo failed, one person would have to foot the bill for the millions of dollars in losses. Who? Of course it would be the camp that switched sides.
EA has fully agreed, and now we have to see what Sega does.
Talking about money hurts feelings! But if you don’t talk about money, then I’ll just talk to you and just close the door and thank customers!
To answer Alexei's question first, Sai Fujita said: "If the contract is suddenly terminated, first of all, Christmas sales of at least 2 million GB units and 1 million FC units will be affected, involving your company's Tetris game.
, the difference will not be too big. Secondly, Nintendo has a practice, they like to produce in advance,
Billing is based on a unified financial quarter, which means that after the end of the third quarter, until now, a certain amount of game copies must have been produced during this period. If the contract is suddenly terminated, these copies are most likely to be unauthorized products that exceed the authorized quota.
, these products cannot be sold during the Christmas period and all need to be recalled and destroyed.”
Yang Yun remembered that in real history, it was Sega who was the first to win the Tetris contract from an individual Russian engineer, and excitedly produced more than 100,000 copies of the game cartridges, preparing for a big fight.
It's a pity that Nintendo took advantage of the contract. In the Soviet Union, all the results of national scientific research were collective rather than individual. Arakawa Minoru personally went to Moscow and spent 10 million US dollars to obtain the authorization from the Soviet National Science Laboratory. Sega had more than 100,000
The game cartridges could only be destroyed in tears, which was a huge loss!
If KTT terminates the contract, it will bring huge trouble to Nintendo. It is already busy enough and has insufficient manpower. It is also busy with returns, exchanges, recalls and destruction. If Yang Yun is serious and arranges for a team of accountants to move in, it is estimated that
You have to give Nintendo a hard time.
After answering Alexei's question, Yang Yun's question cannot be avoided. Fujita Sai does not dare to express his position easily. He is no more powerful than Arakawa Minoru, the son-in-law of Yamauchiura. The matter involving millions of dollars has already exceeded
Sega America's credit limit must be reported to Sega Japan's headquarters.
At this time, Pete remembered something and said excitedly: "I heard that Nintendo got into trouble recently! They got into trouble with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission!"
Yes! That’s it!
Yang Yun became excited, he had heard about this.
Because Nintendo is so powerful that it even dictates how the game consoles and cartridges should be displayed in dealers' stores. This international giant, which accounts for 85% of the game market, finally made the U.S. government unhappy.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has a strong background and specializes in enforcing various antitrust laws and consumer protection laws. To the Chinese, it is a notorious and extremely disgusting federal agency!
Under the banner of protection, it interferes in the operations of other countries' companies as much as it wants. I don't know how many Chinese companies have been cheated by it in future generations, including photovoltaic companies, shoes, hats, clothing, consumer goods, toys, anyway, as long as the United States needs goods made in China, this agency will
They will pop up and give you anti-monopoly laws, trade subsidies, higher tariffs, etc. I don’t know how many Chinese companies will shed tears in anger.
Of course, this organization is not merciful to American companies. It stands on the side of the people and claims to represent the interests of consumers. Intel, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Coca-Cola, etc., basically all large companies have been dealt with by it.
Now, it has finally extended its black hands to Nintendo. How could Yang Yun not laugh out loud?
Nintendo is having a hard time!
With people like Yang Yun behind it, Nintendo will have to shed its skin even if it doesn't die!
Fujita Sai didn't seem to know about it and asked in confusion: "When did this happen?"
To be continued...